Technical Liaison Meeting  23 April 2009
Chair – Malcolm Bain, Director, IT Services
1. Introductions
The chair welcomed everyone and offered brief introductions for new members.
2. IT Services

University ICT Strategy – the group has reformed and has new membership with meetings
scheduled on a monthly cycle. The group has met three times since the last Technical Liaison
meeting in January. The group is chaired by Ron Piper and membership includes Derek Watson,
Al Dearle, Ian Robertson, Andrew Keenan, representatives from PricewaterhouseCooper, and Mary
Popple from Court, with Malcolm Bain and Heidi Fraser-Krauss in attendance. The group has just
approved the latest version of the Network Security Policy which will be circulated prior to the next
meeting.

Data Centre Plans – The Business case went to PARC in December 2008 and was approved
in January. The budget is set at £2.6 million and will be used to build a data centre and provide
funds for the provision of a storage facility. The timetable is set to commence in June 2010 with the
intention of moving kit in by September 2010. There are still plans to build a second centre on the
North Haugh.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) – The Chair circulated a paper which outlines the work and
timescales related to the review.

Email / calendar review – this item moved up the list in the PwC review. A project
Initiation Document (PID) has been completed and was presented to the ICT group along with cost
estimates for a Microsoft solution. Procurement stepped in at this stage to advise that this process
has to be an open course of action following procurement rules. A document was then circulated as
part of the requirements gathering stage which is the first step in engaging in consultation with the
University IT community. MB asked for thoughts on this to be fed to him in due course.
The meeting was asked if the committee had looked at any other system apart from Microsoft.
The Chair replied that investigations had gone into looking at a Google solution as they offered
email and calendar services free of charge. It was also stated that other institutions were using this
solution for their student community. Further information stated that the group was looking at a
solution to cover all staff / student requirements. Commercial solutions were being looked at
(including Novell and Lotus Notes) and also Open Source. Key consideration must be given to a
solution that will perform in a cross-platform environment. Further discussions continued
regarding email covering topics such as performance, and concerns over restrictions associated
with any implementation of a Microsoft solution. The Chair informed the meeting that the next
step in the project was the development of the ITT document and also engaging in a user
consultation exercise. A list of questions will be ready by the end of the next week for use in user
consultation. The chair also presented information on the HE institutions who had already
introduced new systems to handle email / calendaring services. The chair will feed progress back
to the group at the next meeting.

Classroom Build – Recent amendments to the Scottish Public Sector agreement on
procurement forced a change from the standard previously purchased PC make and model. This in
turn affected a change in the standard PC build. The new standard classroom build will be ready
for deployment by June / July 2009 and will be based on the Windows XP OS. The build will be
phased in commencing with the main University Library. This work is currently being carried out
by one person; however, an application for more staff will be presented to the Work Force Planning
Technical Liaison meeting 23 April 2009
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group on Monday 27th April and progress fed back to the group at the next meeting. Phil
Robertson, IT Services, was asked if the new build would have the ability to play DVDs as more
teaching was being done using this format. This will be checked and reported back. It was also
suggested that QuickTime be installed. Phil Robertson reported that there are licensing
implications involved with this software but again further investigations will be carried out and fed
back to the group. A standard build has also been developed for staff and will also be based on the
Windows XP OS.

IT Services Plan 2009/10 – The Chair highlighted that this was an opportunity for feedback
from the Computer Officers and Technicians to state what they see for inclusion in the plan and
also suggested this feedback be directed to him. Current items on the plan include installing a
complete wireless system, building a new data centre, implementing a new solution to deal with
email / calendaring, the PricewaterhouseCoopers review, the ICT strategy work.

Printing Review – Kevin Donachie, IT Services, reported that the University was looking to
procure a new printing solution, and one which will integrate with the existing photocopiers and
scanners. A request will be distributed for information and followed by a full procurement
exercise. The Computing Officers were asked to feed back their opinions on this. The project will
focus on standardising printers across the University campus.

Helpdesk replacement - The current system will be replaced with a commercial product in
collaboration with the Universities of Edinburgh and Abertay, Dundee. The project is on schedule
and it is hoped that by November 2009 a contract will be in place. It is intended that the new
service desk software will be in place by August 2010.

WebEX Group – The group was asked if they knew of this tool being used in the University.
It was reported that this is used by the Development department.

Software Licences – Birgit Plietzsch, IT Services, informed the meeting that SPSS version 12
is no longer supported and will be replaced with SPSS version 17 on the new classroom PC build.
The Computing Officers were asked to feed this information back to the academic schools as it
would be necessary to update teaching material for the new academic year. The group were also
asked to feed back any issues with upgrading to the new version to IT services.

MS IT Academy – The University has a licence for this accredited course. This will be rolled
out to IT professionals; all Computing Officers were asked to contact Kevin Donachie and/or Birgit
Plietzsch, IT Services, if they wish to enrol.

Email Performance – It was reported to the group that the recent performance issues with
email were identified as being related to a synchronisation problem between NotifyLink and email.
AOB
It was reported that there was equipment being used within departments that has not been
registered. Computing Officers were asked to make sure all IT equipment in their departments was
registered and warranties recorded.
It was also raised that, on occasion, batteries supplied for the wireless mice and keyboards in the
seminar rooms were flat. To reduce the likelihood of this situation arising again it was suggested
that battery chargers be supplied to the schools.
Next meeting – the next meeting will be arranged for a time in September 2009.
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Actions
Report back on Network Policy
ICT meeting 24 April update
Email project progress update
WFP updated on staff
Standard Build and DVDs
QuickTime
Lorraine Brown
Patricia Heggie
Andy Eccles
Malcolm Bain
P J Robertson
J Bews
M Woodcock-Kroble
Brenda Dobie
Raymond Schiavetta
Jennifer Kerr
Caroline Peter
Bill Gudgeon
Steve Smart
Chris Coutts
Phil Le Feuvre
Ian Taylor
Alan Vaughan
Birgit Plietzsch
Kevin Donachie
Mike Arrowsmith
Brian Kirk
Roy Thomson
Son Truong
Mike Mulreany
MB
MB
MB
MB / PJR
PJR / MFC
PJR / MFC
ITS
Maths
History
ITS (Chairman)
ITS
Chemistry
Classics/Art History
IT Services
IT Services
Management
ITS
Bute Medical School
Biology / Medicine
Bute Medical School
CREAM
Physics
Geography
ITS
ITS
Philosophy
Psychology
Psychology
ITS
ITS
Technical Liaison meeting 23 April 2009
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